Browse by Theme: Monitoring & Evaluation

One of the biggest challenges in achieving programme quality is to link Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) systems to project management practices. Here are some proven ways to achieve this at project design, baseline, implementation and endline stages.

Launched by DFID, Value for Money (VfM) is now a widely accepted standard in the sector. For CARE, quality assurance is determined by evidence of how monetary resources translate into long-lasting changes. It is understood as a key approach during proposal development and implementation to maximise the integration of Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) systems with project management practices.

Payment upon demonstrating a set of agreed results is an emerging contractual modality that many donors are choosing to pursue. DFID together with USAID are leading this discourse and applying this funding approach to an increasing number of thematic areas, especially in health and education. So what does putting evidence at the centre of payment mechanisms mean for monitoring, evaluation and learning?

One of the trendiest buzzwords in the development and humanitarian sector at the moment is “adaptive management”, which carries heavy weight in focusing on MEAL practices while remaining neutral to political forces and the increased commercial pressures on aid spending. But what does adaptive management mean in practice and what are the key considerations to bear in mind in relation to programme design and implementation?

Cash programming has been under the cosh from certain sections of the media – so it will be interesting to see the response to the latest report from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, published today (12 January 2017), which gives a strong endorsement to DFID’s cash programmes and how they deliver on poverty reduction.

After disasters many international agencies, including CARE, undertake a whole range of projects to help affected people recover, including the construction of houses. These may be described as all sorts of things, including temporary shelter, transitional shelter, durable shelter, semi-permanent shelter, core houses or permanent houses. Which description is used often seems almost arbitrary, decided by a mixture of assumptions about people’s recovery, donor mandates and priorities, government policy and the level of expertise available in agencies. The description rarely matches reality.

CARE works around the world to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. We put women and girls in the centre because we know that we cannot overcome poverty until all people have equal rights and opportunities.